Truthout / Buzzflash 24 January 2013

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Truthout:America has a rich history of cooperative and community organizing, as detailed in John Curl’s book For All the People. Zeese and Flowers interviewed Curl to learn more about how cooperation and communalism “were intertwined with many of the transformational changes the country has made.”

Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch: “We have an abundance of rape and violence against women in this country and on this earth, though it’s almost never treated as a civil rights or human rights issue, or a crisis, or even a pattern. Violence doesn’t have a race, a class, a religion, or a nationality, but it does have a gender.”

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: President Obama vowed to tackle climate change in his inaugural address just a week after government scientists released a draft report confirming that climate change is having big impacts on the lives of Americans. The Obama administration is taking steps to cap carbon emissions from big polluters, but will new regulations be enough?

Robert Naiman, Truthout: Palestinian peace activists have already set up two villages to prevent Israel from confiscating their land, but will the Western media ignore their non-violent action? Take the pledge to spread the news via social media.

Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks, The Daily Take: With billionaire campaign donors and a national gerrymandering scheme, the GOP is protecting its power while falling into the political minority. The majority must fight back by embracing more democracy.

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: The new documentary, Fire in the Blood, explores how major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, as well as the United States, prevented tens of millions of people in the developing world from receiving affordable generic AIDS drugs. Millions died as a result.

Thom Hartman, The Thom Hartmann Program: Virginia could become the first state to elect delegates to the Electoral College from districts gerrymandered by the GOP; a man puts himself in prison to receive health care; 11 European countries embrace the Robin Hood tax; and more.

Jessica Pieklo, Care2.com: Last week, a federal appeals court upheld portions of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial law that stripped collective bargaining rights from public workers. The decision would appear to be a significant loss for union supporters, but it’s not as bad as it seems.

BuzzFlash

Consigliere Lanny Breuer, Head of the DOJ Criminal Division, Leaves Without Prosecuting One “Made Man” on Wall Street

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Like Eric Holder, Department of Justice Criminal Division Chief Larry Breuer is giving a pass to the same financial and corporate made men that he used to represent. Now, he’s apparently leaving his position after an embarrassing television segment revealed he wasn’t interested in prosecuting Wall Street executives.